Seven straight losses push Yankees into stunning midseason swoon
· Yahoo Sports
NEW YORK – What’s been “a terrible week for us’’ of “struggling to score runs’’ was stretching into another painful day for Aaron Boone’s club.
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On a sweltering hot Wednesday afternoon, the Yankees lineup once again failed to fire - until the ninth inning.
Blanked through 8.1 innings, the Yankees got a solo homer from Amed Rosario before Jazz Chisholm Jr. manufactured the tying run on his own, with an infield single, two stolen bases and a wild pitch that scored him.
After each team blew opportunities in a scoreless 10th inning, Detroit scored four runs with two out in the 11th inning off reliever Camilo Doval, and the Tigers completed a three-game sweep with a 6-2 win at Yankee Stadium - more than half-empty by then.
That's seven straight losses by the Yankees and 10 in their last 12 games, in what has mushroomed into a stunningly brutal stretch for a club that enjoyed a three-game division lead as long ago as June 21.
Boone has challenged his team to “small your way out of’’ this malaise, winning at-bats by whatever means, and watching that snowball into a rally.
Before the game, injured Yankees captain Aaron Judge referenced the club as having “a little lack of focus, insisting “we’ve got to dial it in.’’
Boone acknowledged a team-wide slump that has persisted for two weeks, along with some inconsistent defense.
“That’s certainly a point of emphasis, especially when you’re going through some struggles. You’ve got to handle all the little things,’’ Boone said before the game.
“And part of that is having some guys’’ on the injured list, forcing some other players to play out of position a bit, though Boone feels like “the group is in a good place as far as their preparation goes.’’
After a string of rough outings from Yankee starters, Will Warren yielded two runs over 5.2 innings, enough to put the Yanks in a winning position.
And yet, the Yanks’ lineup had just two hits through the first seven innings, blanked into the seventh by Detroit righty starter Troy Melton.
Pinch-hitter Spencer Jones and Jose Caballero opened the eighth with singles off reliever Drew Anderson, causing some genuine excitement at Yankee Stadium.
But after Oswaldo Cabrera sacrificed both runners into scoring position, Ben Rice struck out and Jasson Dominguez lined out to center, and the groans were back.
The Yanks' two-run, game-tying uprising led to Fernando Cruz's scoreless 10th inning, and the Yanks got the automatic runner - Spencer Jones, representing the winning run - to third base with one out.
But Oswaldo Cabrera and Ali Sanchez were struck out by Keider Montero, sandwiching an intentional walk to Ben Rice, and the Yanks were in jeopardy again.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Seven straight losses push Yankees into stunning midseason swoon